Storm Rising on the Horizon
by DeathBladeVI
Summary: The Crucible has been fired. All of the Reapers are destroyed. As Shepard adjusts to his life of peace, being a father, and making sure that the most dangerous people in the galaxy are gone, he must face a new threat. A threat that the Reapers weren't able to destroy. For no matter what happens, there is always a storm rising on the Horizon.
1. Aftermath Pt 1

**Hello. Yeah, it seems that I am in a Mass Effect fever. I have used ninety-six of the previous one hundred and forty-four hours to play Mass Effect. I finished the trilogy plus some of the DLCs. This is a continuation of Mass Effect 3. You'll see what ending I have. Also I changed the ending of Mass Effect 3 to my own twisted imaginations because I really didn't want to see a particular species die.**

_"I do not believe in my own death."_

_-Salvador Dali_

_Ah, Commander Shepard. Your time is not up. The Crucible worked. You made it work. The Catalyst has never fought an enemy such as yourself. You are the paragon of humanity, the one that walks the path. _

_Humanity will recover. So will the rest of the galaxy. But there comes a threat, one almost as terrible as the Reapers. The darkest days have not yet pass. But you have never been the one to see dark, but light in the darkness. The light at the end of the tunnel. _

_Come to your world and see what the Crucible has done to the Reapers. Your lover is safe, but faraway. You will see her soon though. But the coming obstacles will test you to your limit once more. _

_For the storm as not yet passed. _

_And the Prophets will be waiting._

Ash. The scorching sense of ash was in the air. Flashes of red and green rushed past his sight and the ever familiar engine of a Mako was nearby. Footsteps pitter over the remains.

That was when he saw the tags. His steel grey dogtags that held the emblem of the N7. His symbol of proficiency and pure human competence. He reached for them, but pain, unbearable pain, shot through his arm. He couldn't bare it, as hot laces of pain sliced through his body, punishing him for his efforts at trying to reach his dogtags.

That pain also screamed at him. The pain of loss and despair. He didn't know if he truly did stop the Reapers. The Reapers, the harvesters of all organic life. He might be the last sentient being in the entire galaxy, while the Reapers retreated, waiting for another 50,000 years to harvest all organics once more. And what of the Geth?

Did he destroy them? The fuzzy horizon of memory didn't allow him to look into that. All he remembered was seeing Tali's smiling face when she saw her homeworld, the peace between the Geth and her people. How she expressed hope that one day, she could build a house on her world with him.

Tali. Her sweet voice, her bubbliness, her happiness, her. She was everything, he realized. His life, his love, everything he saw. He had been the only one to ever see her in her true form, without the suit. But where was the Normandy? All he remembered was that they had been running...towards a massive object that had the potential to wipe out the Reapers. A red beam of energy had hit her and he had forced her back onto the Normandy.

A burning sensation in his lungs brought him back to reality. He couldn't turn, not when he was surrounded by that rubble. The dogtags were just out of his reach. His right arm, he realized, could move, but doing so meant massive amounts of effort and energy that he simply did not have. But he would not give up.

He had never given up. He continued to reach, despite the amount of pain that entered his body. He continued with his might, all of humanity's effort that he could muster, all of the galaxy's might. His hand traversed the first five inches, before the flaring pain slashed through his arm and into his shoulder. He grunted with effort, his hand continuing its journey to reach his dogtags.

Four more inches. Groaning as rockets of pain landed all around him, he leaned into it, wanting to reach the dogtags. He saw it, snagged as it was, and with it, the light. The light that promised him freedom from the rubble prison. He heard more footsteps, rushing up a small hill of rubble and destruction. But he wanted his dogtags.

No, he needed his tags. He doubled his efforts, gliding his hands as he snatched his dogtags when he heard a familiar voice.

"Start looking for the Commander and the Admiral. Let's move it people! This man just wiped the Reapers and saved all your sorry asses!" a female voice shouted, a voice of authority and strictness. He knew what that voice was. A voice of comfort and friendship.

"Mam, he could be anywhere..." another voice said, a male voice. He heard doubt, doubt that he could ever live, but gratitude that the male had been saved by him.

"Listen and start digging! The Alliance don't pay for you to keep whining!" the female voice shot back, a small growl in her words.

"Yes MAM! House, go help me with pulling all this rubble!" the male voice shouted and soon another scurry of footsteps were heard. Shepard saw the light. He groaned again as he thrust his hands straight through it.

And then a mountain of rubble came tumbling down.

"Watch it, rubble coming down! Wow, House, you almost got hit! To think that you survived all the things that the galaxy threw at you, only to get taken down by a mountain of junk!" the familiar voice that was the male's chortled. He then heard a slapping sound, most likely on the back of the head, and a indigent 'HEY!' following it. He wanted to laugh, but he couldn't.

"Mam, I think I see a body!"

"Well go and dig it Marine! House, you keep watch, just in case any of those Husks decide to give you a bad day. Fawkes, go back to the Mako, get some of the medi-gel, just in case that someone is alive. I doubt it, but the Commander and the Admiral have gone through these kinds of odds and lived. Hudson, radio in for a transport, gunship, I don't give a flying shit, just get some mode of transport!" the authority in her voice lessened, though the sense of badassness just stayed with him.

"Yes MAM!" a woman replied briskly.

Commander Jonathan Shepard, commander of the Normandy, leader of the Combined Allied Fleets that attacked Earth, saw a Marine, dressed in the Marine armor and wielding an assault rifle, poke his head in the rubble that he was currently in.

"Well look at me here! Its the Commander! The lucky bastard is alive! Hey House, help me get him out!" and another Marine, this one without a helmet, with black hair, smooth and pale skin, and green eyes, soon grunted and jogged lightly up the hill, going to dig out the Commander that had saved them all.

"JACK! WE FOUND HIM!" and soon he heard the activation of biotic powers. The familiar face of Jack, the most powerful and talented biotic in the entire universe, soon poked her head. She had some light burns and blood gashes, but she still smiled in her same weird way.

"Ah, have a nice nap? Or did the leader of the boy scouts decide to return from the land of the dead to come back to this hellhole we call our homeworld?" she asked, smirking all the while. Shepard just groaned, more and more pain, racing through his body.

"Jack...how, but...I thought you would be in the Normandy," Shepard spoke, his voice a rasp.

"Fawkes, get that medi-gel and get your ass over here! Oh, and well, my biotic students managed to survive. Most of them got third degree burns and one lost his hand when the Reapers attacked us, but they all survived. Thanks to you my good man. I couldn't abandon them, so...I just stayed. Linked up with these men after I dropped off another one of your boy scouts to a field hospital just a few miles up the road. I gotta say, this was the most excitement I had since we took down the Collectors!" Jack smiled crazily again. Though she had mellowed down a bit, she still was the crazy bitch Shepard had rescued from the Purgatory prison ship.

"Oh and boss?" she asked slyly.

"Before you left and played hero for like the thousandth time, Tali gave me a call as soon as the Normandy left to give you a message."

Shepard was perplexed. What had she said to Jack she could not say to him? He wondered what she had said and he wanted to speak up, but pain struck the side of his body, causing him to grit his teeth.

"What...what did she say?" he asked, grunting as another Alliance Marine entered the rubble strewn area, applying Medi-gel everywhere. As the gooey substance covered him, he soon felt relief, though pain continued to flourish, it wasn't as bad.

"Congrats on a new kid!" Jack said gleefully, looking happy. "You are now a father...well you will be a father in about nine months. Don't ask me how in God's name a quarian and a human managed to make a kid House, because hell, even I don't know, and I have fucked a few aliens in my lifetime. And goddamn it, where is that transport!" and as soon as she yelled that, a Mantis gunship roared overhead, its vectored thrust engines giving Shepard a peace of mind. He was about to slip in the cushion of exhausted sleep, only to have his eyes shoot back into the land of the awake.

"You said that Tali is pregnant?" he almost shouted, as the Medi-gel spiraled into effect.

"Yep! Congratulations! Oh man, if Joker was here, he would be making fun of you until the sun goes down!" Jack laughed as Shepard groaned, remembering why he wanted to die. If only it were so easy...

"Mam! We found Admiral Anderson's body. We can load him up in the Mako to take him back to Headquarters!" an Alliance Marine shouted, coming from another hill of rubble.

"So...the Crucible worked?" Shepard asked.

"Yep! Bastard almost singed my hair off, but the damn thing worked! Every Reaper, at least here on Mother Earth, is now dead and in the water. You did good Shepard," Jack replied as soon an outline of a tear came, forming on her eyelid.

"Where am I?" he asked again, for some reason he did not know why he did not ask that in the first place.

"You are still in the same place you've been for the last few hours. These boys managed to hold down the fort a little ways up the road, and I needed some bodies to help get your sorry ass out of here. What did the Crucible do?" she asked, calming down a bit. She then proceeded to dig out more of the rubble, allowing Shepard to have a little more movement.

"It wiped out all the Reapers. All of them. I was offered three choices. Synthesis. Allowing all organics and synthetics to become combined. Control. Take control of all the Reapers. Destroy. Kill all the Reapers in order to make sure their cycle did not continue," he said to Jack, ignoring the blistering throbbing that was attacking his side again.

"Wow...you just made me speechless and we all know how difficult that is. Ok Shepard, its time to get your ass out of there and into the gunship. We are getting you out of here."

* * *

"The Crucible worked as it was designed to be."

"So the Reapers are gone? All of them?"

"Yes Prophet. All of the Reapers are gone. The one they call Shepard destroyed them."

"The Reapers, the harbingers of our doom, the ones that drove the most powerful galactic power known to this galaxy to the ground, were defeated by a _human? _This is not good. We have the mightiest fleet since before the Great Passing, fifty thousand ships waiting to attack. We must defeat the one they call Shepard. With his death, we will be able to rule this galaxy, as it should have been. This is a beacon of hope for all the Union!"

"Prophet, this one thinks that we must be careful before we attack. This one knows the danger of attacking a united enemy. The ship they call the Normandy has disappeared. How shall we attack, if the combined fleets of the galaxy are united against threats such as us? Wait one, two, three cycles. The ones they call the Council will ensure their own death, for they refuse to act. The Council is weak and inefficient and distrust of humans, no matter what the cause. We only need to wait, like the Harbingers of Doom did, and our pact will be sealed in the blood of the dead that seek to oppose us."

"Yes. The Pact of Truth and Enlightenment. We forged it over seven thousand years ago, when the damn Reapers attacked us. Now we can finally act upon the pact. The blood of our fathers and our forefathers will not have been spilled in vain. We are the inheritors of their empire. And we shall not fail!"

"Yes."

"Soon brother. We will act upon the promises of our father so long before us. The Council, the Citadel, the Alliances. They will all be destroyed. The Reapers were the only thing keeping us. We hid like those damn sand dogs for the last five thousand years. And now we will be able to take our rightful place as rulers and guiders of the Galaxy."

"And finally uphold the Mantle that was given to us so many years ago."

**Alright, I have some Halo references in there. I tried to keep Jack within character. Please review. Chapters will come, just not sure when.**


	2. Aftermath PT 2

**Thanks to all of the reviews and follows! **

"_What did Commander Shepard do that made him the hero of the galaxy dad?" _

_"He wiped the Reapers, allowing for the first time, a cycle that had been broken. He made sure that no one ever had to do so again. That is why we think of him as our hero. For he allowed us to finally live our lives without worrying about a massive fleet of sentient machines wiping us out. Allowing us to decide what our lives truly mean. He was a hero son and if you want, I can tell you another story before you have to go to sleep."_

_"Thanks Dad."_

_"What would you like to hear?"_

_"Who were the Prophets?"_

_-Conversation between the Stargazer and his son, forty thousand years after the events of the Final Reaper War. _

_SSV Orizaba_

_In Orbit Above London _

_Eighteen hours after conclusion of Reaper War_

Captain Hannah Shepard pondered what had happened to her son. It had been hours since the Crucible had been fired and her dreadnought had been in orbit, will, not exactly, since nothing but a frigate would be able to make it into the planet. She looked at her bridge, various chairs empty because of the casualties they had suffered.

She was proud of her son. He had made such great strides, fighting against impossible odds and coming out the winner. And ever since that transmission intercepted from the _Normandy_, before it bugged out of the system, she couldn't believe it.

She was going to be a grandmother. For the first time in months, if not years, she smiled. A warm and happy smile in a desolate world void of happiness. She saw the various fires of London, Big Ben, the iconic symbol of British pride, still standing tall and proud. She sighed, thinking of her late husband, Captain Benjamin Shepard of the Alliance Marines, as she looked down.

Hannah liked Tali. She was smart, brave, if not a little naïve. But the young woman was in her late twenties, a little younger than her son, but already an experienced leader. She saw the Migrant Fleet, or most of it, before they bugged out of the system to head back to Rannoch, while the geth left five cruisers before also bugging out. The geth had worked with an unspoken fury, working to repair the Charon Relay.

Billions of lives had been lost in the fight against the Reapers, but Admiral Hackett, the leader of the remaining Alliance Forces, had high hopes. They had lost everything but Earth, though some colonies no doubt survived. They were in a for a long haul, and they would persevere. For humanity was a species of survival, a species of war and survival.

"Captain, the Admiral wants to talk to you in the communications room. Says he has some news," an Ensign, Ensign Roberts, said to her as she looked at the galaxy map. She nodded, before stepping down, passing a saluting Alliance Marine. She went into the communications room, where the outline of a weary admiral was, his eyes seeing too much horror in the last few weeks.

"Sir!" she said crisply, saluting the Admiral. Admiral Hackett saluted back, though it was halfhearted.

"At ease Captain. I have some news that I need to share with you," he said quickly, as he had his men start to repair the mass relay that lead to Earth.

"What news sir?" she asked curiously. She secretly hoped it was news about her son, but she had doubts that her son was still alive.

"Two bits. One, is that the _Normandy_ has been found. She crashed on some desolate planet. Should be a few weeks before they come back to Earth. Second bit of news. Your son is alive," and she, the first woman to ever command a dreadnought, a woman of composure and calmness, burst into tears. Her son, her only son, had lived, and he would rejoice at the news of him being a father. Though what did have Hannah wondering, how in the hell did a quarian get impregnated by a human? Cross species children were not unheard of, just ask a random asari, but quarians were not known to have children outside the fleet, especially with humans.

"He's alive? My son, my only son is alive? Thank you Admiral for telling me! Is he going to be alright?" she asked. He had been caught in a massive explosion of energy, fallen from space, and impacted in London.

So excuse her if she had some doubts that her son would be alright. But she had hope, a feeling she hadn't had since her son was imprisoned.

"Yes. Due to his extensive cybernetic implants, he managed to survive. He has third degree burns all over his body, his face is most grey, and he has a collapsed lung. But our best doctors are working on him. He was found by Jack, one of our biotic soldiers, and marines from the 103rd. He will be out of surgery in about four hours. He's going to live Hannah," and for the first time since the death of her husband, she cried. She cried and cried and cried. Admiral Hackett couldn't really comfort her, I mean, he was just a hologram, but she cred without shame.

Her son was going to be alright. As the crew of her ship went about their business, she cried. Tears of joy and happiness were shed as she cried her eyes out, her brown eyes glistening with tears.

"Also, I heard about Ambassador Tali Zorah. Tell Commander he has my congratulations. And also ask, how in the hell he managed to impregnate a quarian? That's the question that has been bothering me for hours. Alright captain, I will be going now. I have to oversee the rebuilding of London," and she saluted him, the training beaten into her taking over.

But before the Admiral signed off, he looked at her in the eye.

"Before I leave, you must tell me Rear Admiral. How many ships remain of the Fifth Fleet?" and going over, she knew that a large part of the fleet had destroyed in the battle above Earth, but the vast majority of cruisers and frigates had managed to make it.

"About forty sir-" and then she stopped. Admiral Hackett had just called her Rear Admiral. As in, Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard.

"Yes Rear Admiral. You are taking command of the Fifth Fleet. Get your dreadnought and those ships to assist the Migrant Fleet in treating quarian and krogan casualties. Hackett out."

And the newly promoted Rear Admiral smiled once more. Her son was going recover. She was going to be a grandmother. And she was now a Rear Admiral. Her life was getting better and she smiled and smiled.

Happiness and good fortune ran through the Shepard family.

As did luck.

_SSV Normandy_

_Crash landing on remote planet, appx fifty light years away from Earth_

Joker and most of the crew had given Tali a wide berth. After seeing her boyfriend and soon to be husband charge and then get hit by a mako, well, it wasn't good for the soul. And then when heading to the medical bay for a standard checkup, she found out she was pregnant.

Like the rest of the galaxy, he was wondering how in the hell did Tali get pregnant with Commander Shepard's child?

_Probably was a blood pact with the devil._

Joker and the rest of the crew were looking at the wall. The wall that housed all the names of each crew member who had died while serving on the _Normandy. _Williams. Mordin. Thane. Friends that they had all learned to love. But dealing with the commander's death was terrible. Tali, was looking shaken, had the name of the commander in her hands.

COMMANDER JONATHAON SHEPARD. Joker remembered when the two had first met, having been wondering around with Williams around Chora's Den, looking for a new model for his shipbuilding habit. He heard gunshots and had walked over to see the Commander standing over four bodies, with a krogan and a C-Sec officer behind him, while a quarian had just unloaded her shotgun directly into a human that had tried to sneak up on the commander.

He knew it was love at first site between the two. The two had both started dating during when they had worked for Cerburus, and Shepard had asked her to marry him on Rannoch, after achieving peace between the quarians and the geth, which nobody but Shepard would have been able to do.

Standing in solemn silence, they watched as Tali hesitated to put Shepard's name on the wall. Admiral Anderson's name was already on it, but Tali was just hesitating. Since nobody dared to speak up, Tali had her shotgun with her, he had to. Why not? He was expendable.

"Tali? Uhh, not to be rude or anything, but why are you hesitating to put the Commander's name on the wall?" he asked gently. The last thing they needed was him to have a shotgun separate his head from the rest of his body. She looked at him with her sad eyes, her purple irises glistening with tears.

"Because Joker, I don't think he is dead. If anyone can survive its Shepard. I mean, he saved all of our lives and I'm pregnant with his child. I don't want my baby being raised without Shepard," she said briskly. She wanted Shepard to be alive. She needed him to be alive.

"Well, the ship is ready to go. It will take us a few weeks to head back to Earth, but if he's alive, then...wait, I need to ask you something," when a thought popped up in his head.

"What is it Joker?" she asked, sighing.

"How in the hell did a quarian get pregnant by a human?"

"Well Joker, when two people love each other very much, they do something called sex. Others call lovemaking," Garrus started, before a stare from Tali cut him off.

"Well, then. I think this service is about over. Everyone buckle up. Its going to take a while to head back to Earth."

_Big Ben Field Hospital _

_Nineteen hours after firing of Crucible._

_This place will not be your tomb Commander. _

_What?_

_You will live, as you should be. The Prophets are gathering. The Reapers were the only thing keeping them from taking over the galaxy._

_The Reapers would have wiped us all out._

_You could have taken control of them, rendering the cycle in your hands, or achieving synthesis between organics and synthetics. You represent chaos. The Reapers represented order._

_How can there be order if we all die?_

_Chaos. That is what this galaxy will return to. Without the return of the Reapers to Dark Space, you are letting a floodgate of death and destruction flow into this galaxy once more. _

_Not if we stand united._

_And how? You stood united against the Reapers. But the Council. The Council will impede your steps every step of the way, even if you present this dream to them. They are scared. The Prophets will strike soon. But not this year, nor the next. You Commander Shepard, need to act quickly. Return to Rannoch, build yourself a home for you and your family. For when the Prophets approach, Rannoch will not be touched. Rannoch is the original homeworld of the Prophets. And when the time comes, you will know how to defeat them._

_What are you talking about? The Prophets of what? _

_The Prophets of Order, Forgiveness, and Retribution. These three are the tenants of the Union. The Union that had been shattered by the Great Passing. But the Reapers were not able to defeat them. They gathered their strength in the farthest corners of the universe. The Reapers were the guardians of dark space, keeping these monsters in check. _

_Are they worst than the Reapers?_

_In some ways yes. Instead of giving you a quick death, they will make sure that you suffer for all your sins. The quarians, the Alliance, and the geth will not be enough to stop them. Slow them, yes. But the Council will impede you. You will not remember we had this conversation Commander Shepard. You will be plagued by this dream for years to come, until the Prophets have arrived._

_Before you go, may I ask one question?_

_One question child, before I must return to my slumber. _

_Who are you?_

_I am the One Who Stands Alone. I am the Last of the Great Machines. I am the Last Reaper. I do not believe in the cycle. My name is Resolution and you, my child, are my son. Son of machine and organic. You are the pinnacle of evolution. And this is why you will have a child with the Lady Tali. You are the descendants of a once great race, one greater than the Leviathans that created the Reapers, greater than the Protheans. We are now all but extinct. _

_My father?_

_Yes. I am the first child of the Catalyst, the first to walk away from the Cycle of Cleansing. This might confuse you my son, but you knew me as Captain Benjamin Shepard of the Alliance Marines. I am still alive. And when the time comes, when your worlds are burnt into glass, when the Prophets appear to rule this galaxy, you will seek me out. You will see why the Catalyst chose you and why the Crucible did not kill me. Come soon Shepard. For you are the only to be able to walk the Sacred Path to Ascendency. _

_Now wake child. Embrace the light before the cleansing rays of the Mad One destroys the faux peace you worked so hard to achieve. This galaxy may not be able to survive like it did. But enjoy your peace. Enjoy it while it lasts. _

Four Geth Primes were standing outside a small room, their massive weapons and bodies making sure that nobody but doctors, Jack, and other surviving Alliance personnel that were close with the Commander, tried to enter the room. Urdnot Grunt was also there, chatting with random krogan that had survived the battle on Earth, while Jack was busy with her students. Marines and Navy personnel were busy as well, taking care of patients, running errands or taking care of security. Opportunist bastards were everywhere, even if a platoon of krogan soldiers, four Primes, and a squad of Marines from the 103rd were standing guard. Already two looters had been shot for trying to steal medical supplies, while another four had been wounded by the krogans when they tried to steal their weapons.

The Commander had been in intense surgery for hours now, Doctors trying to fix his injuries. It was terribly hard work, but they were able to heal all of his burns and reset his lungs, while his face would be scarred for the rest of his life, a long twisted scar over his right eye that sizzled with pain, he would be fine.

"Did you hear that the _SSV San Diego _managed to survive? I heard that the Captain, some dude by the name of Atienza, destroyed two Reapers by getting in close with his lasers before unleashing a hellstorm of torpedoes. I have family on the _San Diego, _a sister and two brothers. Too bad I joined the Marines, I could have been on the _San Diego," _a Marine on guard duty said to his companion. The other Marine nodded.

"Nineteen hours since those Reapers were destroyed. I'm glad. Me and you, we were in a tight spot. Goddamn Reaper on top of us, only the two of us against a shitload of husks and cannibals. We got lucky man," the second Marine said back, gratitude in his voice.

"Now, the reconstruction of Earth can begin. We lost a shitload of ships, men, and material. Its going to be a long time until we get back into shape."

"As long as we stand united, we can stand against anything."

And with those words, the two Marines returned to their post, as six Trident Fighters flew overhead, their disruptor torpedoes turning into fireworks in celebration for their survival.

**So a lot of mystery in that conversation. I also offer a small explanation for how Tali got pregnant. Later in the story, we will explore that more, and then the appearances of the _Last One _and the _Prophets_ will soon come. Thanks for everything!**


	3. On the Fields of London

**Thanks for all your support guys! As you can tell, I really hate the Council because they are a bunch of dumbass politicians that refuse to help Commander Shepard while the only 'good' one is the asari because she finally gets, even though it took three videogames, a shitload of hours of playing and finally Commander Shepard saving their asses once again for her to finally help him. also the turian one, but lets not talk about him.**

_"Earth...is all we have left. We are a poor people. But we know loss. We know hopelessness and despair. We know how to rebuild. For we all swore an oath when we joined the Alliance. To protect Earth and all her colonies. But we must stand with everyone or else all that Commander Shepard achieved will all be for naught."_

_-Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard, addressing a crowd of Pro-Humanity protestors just five days after the end of the Reaper War_

_SSV Everest _

_In Orbit above London_

_Seventy-three Hours after the End of the Reaper War_

Fleet Admiral Hackett looked at the losses. Before the start of the Reaper War, the Alliance had eight fleets with about a hundred ships in each. Now he had three fleets that barely had half the numbers they used to have. One hundred vessels overall, the most being in the Fifth Fleet, which had been assigned, along with three dreadnoughts, to protect the Crucible during docking. 3.5 million casualties in space, about three million casualties on the ground. In all, about six million people had given their lives during the final battle on Earth.

Billions of lives had been lost, but at least it was over. He was overseeing the reconstruction of London, while the geth and the quarians were working on repairing the Charon Relay. The war had been won, but at a terrible cost. They had lost so much, but he knew, that they could rebuild. They would rebuild. Such was the adaptability of the human spirit and the fierceness of her allies.

But the damn Council. As soon as the war was ended, the Council, the leaders of what were some of the most powerful galactic powers, such as the Turian Hierarchy, the Asari, and the Salarians, were already trying to impose their will. The Migrant Fleet had already refused to submit to the Council's authority, instead, they just left, their frigates being left to help the geth in their rebuilding of the Charon Relay. The geth , as well, refused to submit to Council authority, and left with the quarians, leaving just five cruisers to help with the repairs, while a platoon of Primes stayed in London to guard Commander Shepard, who had been in a coma since being found by Jack and Marines from the 103rd.

They had worked to start to rebuild London, repairing key bridges in order to allow more supplies to flow in. The broken bodies of Reapers everywhere were impeding some of the reconstruction, but more and more of their bodies were just being blown apart so that their salvage could be destroyed. Nobody was sick enough to try and research from their bodies, that was just sick.

"Fleet Admiral, the Council wishes to speak with you," a Marine, one of the ones that had managed to survive the battle in London and had been assigned to be his personal assistant of a sorts, informed him. He groaned inwardly, not wanting to hear that the Systems Alliance help rebuild their worlds. The Alliance barely had enough material to rebuild Earth, while surviving ships were helping in treating casualties or transporting materials from Earth's mineral outposts in the Sol System. Some of the surviving colonies were sending resources as well, though they were busy reconstructing their homes to send too much.

"Of course," and the Marine saluted, before sauntering off to do more of his duties on the massive ship. Four Trident fighters passed below the dreadnought, on patrol. Hackett had ordered patrols, because you never knew what might happen. Already looters were everywhere, some of them getting into fighting with the krogans, while organized gangs were already claiming some of the most important real estate on Earth. Already Hackett had to dispatch Marines to clear out gangs from the ruins in order to show that the Alliance was still in charge. He was tired of all these opportunistic bastards on Earth.

He soon found himself in the Communications room, looking at the holograms of three people, one turian, one asari, the other a salarian. All of them had managed to escape the Citadel with their own personal guard, hiding out in various worlds with ships and men. They were afraid and paranoid, following the Cerberus coup just a few short weeks ago, and Admiral Hackett was tired of their bullshit.

"All, Fleet Admiral Hackett. It is nice to see you again," the turian councilor started. Hackett hated the Council, for they had refused to help with the Crucible. He credited the geth and the quarians helping the most with the Crucible, because they had managed to bury the hatchet between them. The only councilor he had respect for was the asari one, who had helped Shepard get the final piece of the puzzle. The Council was made up of weak fools that had refused to believe the Commander and that had showed when the Alliance had to acknowledge the Council's decisions, even though secretly, a lot of the brass knew that Commander Shepard was right.

"Hello Council," he said before he was cutoff by the salarian one.

"You must help us get the geth and the quarians back under the Council control. They have refused to submit to our laws. The Migrant Fleet has installed dreadnought cannons on their ships, giving them a huge military advantage over us! You must use your fr-

That was when Fleet Admiral Hackett exploded. The fifty-two year old Admiral, a veteran of the First Contact War, a veteran of multiple battles with the Hegemony, a veteran warrior, and just a stoic man in general, did not get angry easily. But the uptight bastards of the Council were already trying to take advantage of the Alliance, and he refused to let them to do so.

"NO! The Systems Alliance is done. We are refusing to help you with your request to submit the quarians to your laws. The quarians and the geth are welcome allies, helping us when Commander Shepard asked them to. They helped us and they helped your people as well. Commander Shepard paid a price. I will not use his friendship with the Admiralty Board to submit them to your whims. You forced them from the Council. The Migrant Fleet is welcomed to Alliance space and we are sending a detachment of Marines and city building materials meant for the repair of the Council to Rannoch. Good day Councilors, and Godspeed," and then the link went dead.

He felt good. The Council had the backing of the turians, the asari, and the salarians, but the Alliance had saved their asses three years ago, Shepard had saved their asses just a few short weeks ago, and just a bunch of idiots they were. Hackett, as the unofficial leader of the Systems Alliance until Parliament and the Defense Committee could be established, had unknowingly just taken the first steps in making an Alliance, but between the geth, the quarians, and humanity. The Systems Alliance would forge a new, one that would be the first in the fire, the first to listen. They wouldn't take three years to listen to a man that had saved them all.

_Big Ben Field Hospital _

_Eight Weeks Since the Firing of the Crucible_

_Private Jonathan Shepard ducked underneath a burnt carcass of a crashed shuttle, as mass effect rounds screamed overhead. The only survivor of his squad, the young Marine fired back, his M-8 Avenger spitting out rounds that made a Southerner look slow, and most of them impacted on a batarian slaver, collapsing his kinetic barriers and making him go down, blood splashing on the soft ground. _

_He was trying his best to repel dozens of slavers. He ducked behind another shuttle, victims of slavers downing them. The would be escapees had managed to scramble back under the covering fire of his Avenger, but more an more slavers landed, he had to hold them off. They were all counting on him. The Private had lost his entire squad, watching them as they were butchered by slavers. He fired once more, his war cries drowned out by the constant cacophony of gunfire. More and more shuttles were starting to land, more and more slavers adding fuel to the fire. _

_He ducked once more, taking solace that there was only one way into the bunkers and the would have to go through him. His armor was dented where the batarians had managed to get through his shields, but he had killed five of them so far, and he was doing his best to take them down. He popped again out of cover, firing, and watched in grim satisfaction as three vorcha mercenaries were cut down. Their blood was soon mixed in with the dying cries of batarians and krogan, as the single Marine fought to save the lives of thousands from slavery. As he fought, he only heard these words. _

_This place will not be your tomb._

Commander Shepard blinked. He saw a rotating fan, lazily fanning the small white wash room that he was in. Small gusts of wind entered from the open window that was in his room, and he wondered where the hell he was. He tried to get up, only to feel a sharp explosion of throbbing course through his spine, and he laid back down. Only did he notice the three people in the room with him.

"Ah, hello?" he asked, and one of them, wearing the armor of a Marine, looked up, drowsily he might add, before setting her sights on Shepard.

"Shepard! Holy shit, he's awake Miranda!" and the Marine soon woke up another person besides her, one with tumbling black hair and a skin tight outfit on. Shepard knew them as Ashley Williams and Miranda Lawson, some of his best friends when he was on the _Normandy. _

Speaking of which, why was he in a hospital? Or was he even in hospital? All he knew that he had activated the Crucible, sending a sharp wave of red energy that destroyed all the Reapers in the Milky Way, using the Mass Relays as their way of spreading. He had no idea on how he got there. He saw multiple tubes and wires attached to his body, and the steady beep of his heart that appeared on the monitor. He was fine, well, he felt fine.

The third person was a krogan, who was sleeping quite nosily, dressed in red armor and had a massive scar over his eye. Shepard knew who it was; Urdnot Wrex, one of the finest krogan he knew of, and a good man, even if his bloodlust could get them into fights. He chuckled inwardly when he and the krogan had first went out drinking on the Citadel, just a few days after the destruction of the Collectors; the two had drunken each other under the table, only for Shepard to win, due to his extensive cybernetic implants and a faster than light metabolism.

"Battlemaster!" he heard a shout, and soon protests were being heard when another massive krogan entered the room, his massive frame being made bigger with the gigantic armor he wore. Shepard knew that Grunt would be there.

"Well, its just a regular family reunion. I knew the big oaf would try and force his way. Look like I was right," and the ever familiar tattooed body of Jack entered the room, her body being fueled by her biotic powers.

"What happened?" he asked, wanting to know. He had been out of the loop for however long, and soon the expressions of surprise were on everyone's face.

"Well, I think a certain someone can best explain everything," and soon a familiar face...err, mask, entered the room. Her hips were swaying and soon Commander Shepard felt a rapid increase of heart rate. It was his girlfriend and future wife, Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy, the most important person in his life and his one true love.

"Shepard," she said with a low voice and soon she was by his side, holding him tight. His side ached but that was soon forgotten as he embraced his lover, feeling her warm embrace. It was her that kept him going. Her love that made sure he was alive. He thought of her when he activated the Crucible, wiping out all the Reapers in the Milky Way.

"Tali," he said back, kissing her on her helmet's visor. They both silently wept, for both had achieved their goals of happiness. Her people had lived, even though they lost millions; in the battles over Rannoch and Earth, but they had a homeworld to return to. He achieved his goal; Earth was free and he was alive with Tali.

"I have wonderful news for you," she said, though she seemed to be a bit nervous. He looked at her with curious eyes, his blue orbs making contact with her purple irises.

"What is it?" he asked. He had no recollection of what had happened for the last few weeks, at least he thought it was a few weeks, besides being found by Jack and a squad of Marines. He knew that the Crucible had worked, but he wondered what the hell had been going on since then.

"Well, Keelah, I don't know how to say it...but...keelah, keelah," she started sputtering, whispering as if someone would hear, before Jack marched over, her eyes blazed with laughter.

"Shepard, the King of the boy scouts, Bane of the Reapers, Savior of the Galaxy 3.0...you my friend-" but she was cut off by a slap to the back of the head by Ashley. Jack glared at the Spectre, before looking back at Shepard. She then just left, muttering about something like how in the hell did that happen?

"I'm pregnant Jon," Tali said quietly.

Jonathan Shepard, a Commander of the Alliance Navy, one of the most fearless men in the galaxy, savior of trillions, was scared. How in the hell did that happen? She was a quarian, he was human. The only race that was able to conceive children from another species was the asari and yet, he was still wondering how? Their DNA was completely different.

_You are the pinnacle of evolution. Your implants and you being synthetic mixed your DNA, allowing you to get any species with child. You are part Reaper. _

_Well that explains everything. _

"Well, that is absolutely wonderful, seeing that I am going to be a father, wait, what did you say?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"I'm pregnant," she repeated, this time rolling her eyes.

"How did this happen? Well, I know how it happened, I happen to be very good at it," he looked at Tali, who was still not amused at his try at a joke. He stifled a smile as she frowned.

"Very rare. It seems that the DNA combined to make a new life form, which is growing in Tali. In about seven months, Tali will give birth. Very rare and very difficult. In fact, I think this is first time a Quarian, no just different species beside the asari were impregnated by a different species. It seems that your DNA Shepard, is what made this possible," Miranda said, looking at a PDA. She was very engrossed in it.

"I told you Tali. You and me are going to be build a home. On Rannoch," he whispered and Tali smiled.

"Together."


End file.
